A group of Labour Party NHS activists met after the People’s Assembly and Save Lewisham Hospital conferences on 5 December to discuss the launch of Momentum NHS — a new campaign to mobilise the labour movement in campaigning to save the NHS.
New, but not completely new, because Momentum NHS is a continuation and transformation of a Labour NHS campaign which ran from mid-2012 to early 2015. That campaign got motions submitted to Labour Party conferences and organised lobbies at them, as part of building links between party, trade union and health activists to demand better, clearer policies from Labour. It also organised support among NHS activists for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign.
Corbyn’s election has blown several big holes in the barriers to getting Labour campaigning on this. However, things are definitely not “sorted”! Post-Andy Burnham, Labour’s policies on the health service are chronically unclear, and the party has so let opportunities to campaign on the issue go by.
Momentum NHS intends to change that! We call on all Labour Party members, trade unionists and health campaigners who want to see Labour leading a movement to save the NHS to get in touch and get involved.
•momentumnhs@
gmail.com
Facebook: Momentum NHS
•For the old campaign going back to 2012, see labournhslobby.wordpress.com
